INTERVIEW WITH "CRUSE" by Keith Ashman, moonlighting for The Zone.

The CRUSE duo consists of ReGina Cruse (vocals) and Brad Koehler (keyboards and electronic wizardry). Both members are now based in Lawrence, but have an impressive musical geography that includes British Columbia, California and New York. Their sound is difficult to pin down, but falls in the general vicinity of electronic dance/pop. I spoke to them after their debut Lawrence gig at the Bottleneck.

Keith Ashman (KA): Who are your influences?

ReGina Cruse (RC): Anyone with an amazing vocal range and unique vocal style, such as Diamanda Galas, Kate Bush, Nina Simone, Patsy Cline, and Annie Lennox, definitely have qualities I would aspire to one day. Basically strong females, though my influences are not only women. It's important for me to exhibit a definite "real" quality in the music, to offer the listener that option -- not necessarily just a polished vocal hook. I have a problem with the word "influence", because when we are working I don't think in terms of the aforementioned artists -- but maybe I do think in terms of allowing myself to express what I feel needs to come out.

Brad Koehler (BK): I studied classical piano for fifteen years, and basically traded that in for a synthesizer when I first heard Blondie. I still take a lot of my arrangement and composition formats from the classical genre, but am definitely influenced by the "electronic music" emergence in the early- to mid-Eighties; Yaz, Pet Shop Boys, Art of Noise and the like.

KA: Do you see yourselves as part of the "techno movement"?

BK: I do not. To me, "techno" represents a specific, mostly non-lyrical, beat-oriented, club-formatted style of music. What CRUSE is doing musically can best be accomplished electronically right now -- the musical scenarios, the various "voiced" characters that ReGina brings to life -- it's all a very pop/singer-songwriter foundation that we choose to build in an electronic medium. Not every CRUSE song is dance, not everything can be played in a club at 1 a.m.

RC: I don't see us musically fitting into one specific style, but if we move people to dance, great!

KA: That was an incredible version of "Bela Lugosi's Dead". Did you listen to a lot of Bauhaus?

RC: When I was a kid, my brother presented me with their "In The Flat Field" album, and I liked it, although "Telegram Sam" is my favorite Bauhaus song. And, of course, having "Bela..." be the opening song in "The Hunger" was impressive. We just wanted to present it to a new audience, like "The Hunger" did for it in the Eighties.

BK: I did listen to a lot of Bauhaus. The whole Batcave scene was very impressive to me. The idea that one could create a new identity through costumes and make-up, as well as create a new Gothic environment musically was very appealing. When ReGina and I were discussing potential covers (which make up a small amount of our repertoire), we really intended to do material that for us represented a bit of history -- both musically and personally. "Bela..." definitely marked the beginning of a new musical movement.

RC: To me, it's THE Gothic anthem.

KA: Ever listen to Kraftwerk?

RC: Oh yeah -- loved it! I am especially fond of the computerized voices, as well as their characteristic "thips".

BK: Sure. I've followed their work for years. They do have such an identifiable sound -- groundbreaking for their time, and still musically current. Plus, they built most of their own equipment -- amazing.

KA: Do you have any current or planned studio projects?

RC: We've just finished recording everything that we've written to date, almost, and need to recoup financially from that! I'm looking into selling a not-so-essential organ so that we can get back into the studio. I only need my lungs, I think.

BK: Yes, nearly thirty songs on tape. I certainly hope that's enoughy material for a record company to chose from for now. We're still writing, however, and I'm designing new sounds right now.

KA: What about future gigs?

RC: Initially, we hadn't planned on doing anything locally, but the opportunity arose for tonight's gig [Sept. 4th, Bottleneck] and it seemed appropriate. We were thinking in terms of an album release first, and then taking a complete show on the road in support of that release. I enjoyed this performance so much, though, that I'm afraid we're going to do have to do more of them.

BK: That's right. While we're working on the "formal" end of things, we more than likely will be making apperances at clubs in the area. It would be nice to be the opening act for shows at larger venues as well.

KA: What's "the vision" behind your music.

RC: The only "intent" is allowing that creative being "to be", and hopefully that will encourage other people to do the same. If I can do it, anybody can. We are all obligated to ourselves and I find that by expressing aspects of this, one can learn and grow -- something we all need to do anyway. The "vision" is to encourage and maybe motivate others' personalized creativity by sharing our efforts. As far as what we are, the listener has to make up their own mind about what they're seeing and hearing.

BK: I definitely agree. Certainly we are using CRUSE as a vehicle to express our ideas about various personal and social issues. However, we're not politically motivated in that respect. It would make me very pleased to know that, through listening to us, one could be influenced towards a more positive self-image, towards more unity in their social environment and begin to understand feelings different from their own. If we can accomplish one of these positive changes in an individual, then I believe we're beginning to accomplish what we were intended to do.